So, I got up bright and early this morning, got myself dressed, heated a cup of coffee in my travel mug and headed out to PA to drop off some stuff before swinging north to the cabin to drop off even more stuff.
I wasn’t on the road for more than 20 minutes when I heard that awful sound of air hissing from a tire and then the thump-thump-thump of a flat. The driver’s side rear tire on the truck was flatter than a pancake. I was on I-80 west bound just past the Route 15 interchange in Morris County. It was dark. It was cold. It was 5:20 AM. I had a backseat full of stuff for PA and NY that had to be off loaded so I could get to the jack and tire irons. Luckily I had a flashlight and a crushable felt hat to serve as a flashlight holder.
Five minutes to unload the seat and reach the tools. Five minutes to lower the spare from beneath the truck bed. Two minutes to jack up the tire. Five minutes to remove the lug nuts and flat tire. Five minutes to hoist the spare into place and tighten the lug nuts again. Two minutes to hook up the flat and winch it back into place. Two minutes to lower the truck off the jack. Five minutes to load everything back into the truck.
About half an hour lost to changing a flat tire. The rest of the trip to PA was uneventful and I was unloading stuff into the storage unit by 9:00 and finishing by 9:30. A light snow began to fall while I was unloading the truck. After a quick stop at the post office to pick up our mail, I headed northeast via Routes 6 and 220. I stopped for gas in Athens, PA and checked the tire I had put on that morning. Everything looked and felt fine.
Ten miles or so down the road I was heading east on Route 17 and had just crossed the Susquehanna River in near white-out conditions as the snow thickened when there was a thump and the left rear quarter of the truck settled to the ground with a metallic shriek. As I veered onto the road’s shoulder I saw the left rear tire continue on its way down the centerline of the roadway. A car coming up behind me slowed and followed the tire about a quarter mile before the tire rolled off the right shoulder and rested in the grass.
It was just after 11 AM and I wasn’t going anywhere soon. I called 911 to report the need for assistance. In the now definitely white-out that existed at the time, I figured it was an emergency. I had no flares and didn’t relish the idea of another vehicle smacking into the rear of the truck. I retrieved the tire and a few minutes later a state trooper pulled in behind me. He looked over the situation and called for a flatbed tow vehicle to haul my sorry truck to a repair shop in Waverly, NY. By noon I was providing the shop manager with contact information and then calling my insurance agency to report the accident and arrange for an assessment of the damage. The shop manager also called to arrange for a rental car from enterprise Car Rental in Athens, PA. They would come and pick me up and drive me back to the office to complete the paperwork.
By 1 PM I was on my way in a low mileage Chevy Cobalt heading for Route 17 again but this time to head back to NJ. Delivery of the stuff to the Adirondack cabin will have to wait for another day. Hopefully it won’t be to far into the future.
The rental vehicle is going to cost me around $350 for a week—I hope it won’t be longer—and I have no idea what the repairs to the truck will cost. I’ve a $500 deductible for collision (I think that is where it fits) so this little episode is going to cost me over a grand. And I was all set to get some new tires next week before the sh*t hit the fan today since the current tires have approximately 55K miles on them and were looking a little thin for good traction in the snow of the Adirondacks or the soon to be mud of PA’s Northern Tier. Heck, mud season will soon be here in the Adirondacks, too. It usually arrives around the Ides of March even if it can (and usually does) continue to snow through April and May. Figure the tires are going to cost me around $600 and this was a very expensive day.
3 comments:
Just be thankful it's only mechanical damage and you were able to get it onto the shoulder. It is possible that it could have been worse.
Still, that'll be trip not to be forgotten for awhile.
Man, that really stinks. Check your insurance policy to see if you have towing coverage. In addition, your insurance may pick up some of the cost of the rental car.
Still a massive pain in the ass.
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